Serious birth gender imbalance inflicts 9 Chinese regions

Since the mid 1980s gender ratio among Chinese infants has climbed rapidly and has exceeded the upper tolerable alarming line, said Zhang Yi with the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences during an interview. The gender ratio imbalance among Chinese newborns has shown six characteristics:

First, gender ratio keeps on climbing and the growing trend has formed accompanying the decline in the number of newborns each year. According to statistics the number of newborns in 1999 was only 114.9 million in China whilst the birth gender ratio of that year was 122.65 percent. In other words Chinese newborns declined by half in 1999 compared with the number in 1990 whilst China's newborn gender ratio climbed by 10 percent.

Second, the imbalance of Chinese newborn gender ratio is an accumulative one. China's newborn gender ratio has been unbalanced since the mid 1980s. According to the census conducted in 2000 the male population between the ages of 0 and 15 are about 188.3 million more than the female population between the ages of 0 and 15 in China.

Third, China's newborn gender ratio is imbalanced in all of rural areas, towns and cities. The results of the fifth census indicate that the newborn gender ratio is imbalanced in general. It has been climbing both in cities and rural areas. Among infants born in 2000 the gender ratio was 113.02 in cities, 117.13 in towns and 119.30 in rural areas.

Forth, regions where newborn gender ratio is imbalanced stretch from north to south. They are Shaanxi (125.15), Henan (130.3), Anhui (130.76), Hubei (128.08), Hunan (126.92), Jiangxi (138.01), Guangxi (128.8), Guangdong (137.76) and Hainan (135.04). These eight provinces and one region have become typical areas, which are most seriously hit by the highest newborn gender ratio.

Fifth, the asymmetric newborn gender ratio in China is characterized by first-birth imbalance and even higher second-birth imbalance. Before the fifth census the imbalance of newborn gender ratio was mainly the result of higher-order birth imbalance. However the fifth census found that in some municipalities directly under the central government and provinces serious imbalance occurred among the firstborns, which has far passed the 107 international alarming line and topped 110. These cities and provinces are Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong and Hainan.

Sixth, the newborn gender imbalance is linked to the high mortality of 0-year old female infants. The 0-year old mortality, either in cities or rural areas, is higher for female infants than for male infants. According to the statistics from China's fifth census mortality is 8.61 percent for 0-year old male infants and 10.69 percent for 0-year old female infants in cities, whilst the figures in rural areas are 28.28 percent and 41.16 percent respectively. The difference between male and female infant mortalities may be related to some people's preference of sons to daughters.

Zhang Yi said in order to curb the climb of newborn gender ratio and be responsible to future generations we should respond with policies as soon as possible. The population strategy should be directed toward lower newborn gender ratio, higher population quality, balanced population age structure and stabilized low fertility level.

By People's Daily Online